Introduction

Introduction

Everyone knows what a limerick is. Popularised by Edward Lear (181288), his contributions to the genre were often like this:

There was an Old Person of Dean, who dined on one pea and one bean; for he said, “more than that would make me too fat,” that cautious Old Person of Dean.

But Rose Anderson wondered what the world’s most boring limerick would look like and wondered if the form could be subverted to make it amusingly tedious. Unsurprisingly, this gave rise to another Hall Writers’ Forum Challenge, two in fact: 1) for the most boring limerick; 2) for the limerick which manipulated the terms of the first challenge to become interesting.

Justin Gosling supposed that someone might produce a really boring limerick: in the context of the challenge it would immediately acquires an interest greater than its rivals, and so must lose. Contributors barely paused to take in the import of this comment and an avalanche of limericks cascaded down the Forum’s slopes: fortunately no one was hurt.

The succinct form of the limerick lends itself to response and repartee; for this reason a number of Conversations have been included under their own headings so that readers can appreciate the exchanges. Otherwise the contributions which follow are listed under the name of each author, each having a section of his or her own, but not necessarily in the order in which they were first posted.

As for the timing of this publication, Darrell Barnes wrote:

I propose that we publish in Trinity these limericks, which stretch to infinity; but breathe not a word, for it may seem absurd to anyone in the vicinity.